The present disclosure relates generally to lifting devices. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a self-contained lifting device that may be used for lifting heavy objects in a workspace, such as on an oil and gas drilling rig.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
The oil and gas industry frequently performs offshore drilling operations. Offshore drilling is a process where a borehole, a small diameter hole in the ground, is drilled through the seabed or the Earth's surface in order to explore and extract petroleum that lies beneath the seabed or surface. The offshore drilling process generally takes place from an offshore oil platform. An offshore oil platform, or oil rig, is a large structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining. During the offshore drilling process, subsurface samples, or samples from beneath the seabed, may be retrieved and analyzed to determine characteristics, such as porosity (i.e., the capacity of the rock to hold fluids) or permeability (i.e., the ease by which a fluid can flow through the reservoir rock), of the surrounding area.
The subsurface samples are often retrieved in a long (e.g., 120-240 feet) cylinder known as a core. The core is then cut or sawed into core sections (e.g., 3 feet long). Once a core section is obtained, the ends of the core section are capped, and the core is placed in a safe for transport.
Current methods for handling core sections have created several challenges in the industry. The core sections can weigh anywhere between 40 and 120 pounds and can be up to six inches in diameter. Currently, individuals lift core sections and physically move the core based on training describing proper lifting technique. Moving heavy cores by hand may be cumbersome and labor intensive. Shorter tubes may be considered to decrease the weight of the tubes, however, such tubes may be undesirable from a geological analysis standpoint. Accordingly, a process and system for handling core sections is needed.